Czechoslovakia

Vaclav Havel and the slogan that carried him to the Presidency: “Havel to the Castle”

Václav Havel — the playwright who became an organizer who became a president — died today at age 75. The face of the Velvet Revolution in Czechoslovakia, Havel’s story expresses the power and the struggle of living on the line between art and politics.

The Velvet Revolution, with its mass protests and non-violent overthrow of a totalitarian regime, resonates deeply with recent events of the Arab Spring, particularly in Tunisia and Egypt. Like in Egypt, much of the organizing was led by students, though in Czechoslovakia art students played a noted leading role, with students from the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague making the initial call for a strike that eventually spread across the country. With the communist government in control of mass media outlets, theaters became a central space for open discussion and action. Theater workers went on strike, and the Civic Forum worked out of the Theatre Without a Balustrade, dancers and actors taking on the roles of actual revolutionaries.

But I honor his life and the way art and politics are woven through it almost seamlessly, reminding us of their deep, natural relationships. His work and that of his compatriots reminds us how theater can be both a metaphoric and a literal space — with both emotional and concrete resources — for discussion, dissent, and revolution.